News Today

Lying over visit passes: ICA officer charged
AN IMMIGRATION and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer was charged in court yesterday with two counts of helping two Filipinas get visit passes by lying that they would be staying at his home.Mohammad Radzi Mohd Kassim, 34, is accused of abetting Pauline... [Read more]

Forum on what it means to be moderate Muslims
CONCERNED that extreme views abroad may influence Muslims here, Islamic religious leaders are setting out to explain that being moderate is an essential part of being a good Muslim.The term 'moderate Muslim' has been debated within the community and abroad, with... [Read more]

British teens urged to learn Mandarin, Urdu
LONDON - THE British government has embarked on an initiative to boost the economy through the learning of 'economically useful' languages.These are expected to include Mandarin and Urdu, alongside the traditional favourites of French, German and Spanish. In the first part... [Read more]

S'pore, Manila 'can build on longstanding ties'
MANILA - VISITING President SR Nathan spoke last night of longstanding ties between Singapore and the Philippines, and opportunities to take it forward in areas such as tourism. He also cited the two countries' role as founding Asean members who helped... [Read more]

Walkouts can cause bigger trouble
AFTER 16 years as a player and 33 years as a manager travelling to all corners of the globe, the 65-year-old Alex Ferguson must have seen it all. Then came Tuesday. 'I have never seen anything like that in football,' said... [Read more]

Games of chance in Taiwanese politics
TAIPEI - TAIWAN'S rival political camps yesterday found a 'novel' way to resolve a deadlock over the redrawing of electoral boundaries for the year-end legislative polls - through finger-guessing games and drawing lots.The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main... [Read more]

Federer ties with Connors
NEW YORK - ROGER Federer is set to break Jimmy Connors' record for consecutive weeks atop the men's tennis rankings. The Swiss took over the world No. 1 spot in the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour rankings on Feb 2, 2004.... [Read more]

'Amazing race' to raise funds for special school
YESTERDAY afternoon, 48 tertiary students started a three-day, two-night challenge styled after the Amazing Race reality show. The youths, just like the TV programme's participants, are aiming for money - but to raise them for charity. The eight teams in the... [Read more]

Sports World
ENGLAND TRIUMPHSYDNEY: England ended a run of nine straight losses to Australia with a 92-run win in a tri-series one-day cricket international yesterday.That kept alive their chances of leap-frogging New Zealand into the best-of-three finals.Ed Joyce belted 107 to help England... [Read more]

Move to prevent 'cheap sale' of state assets
SHANGHAI - CHINA yesterday announced new rules aimed at guaranteeing that state assets identified as key to the nation's economic security are not sold too cheaply to foreigners.Private deals will be strictly controlled and will require approvals from national and provincial... [Read more]

Jakarta bans sand exports, cutting off S'pore's main supply
JAKARTA - INDONESIA has banned the export of some sand and soil products in what it says are efforts to prevent further damage to its environment and to protect its boundaries.The move would cut off the main supply of land sand... [Read more]